• About PEAC

The Wheatbelt PEAC (Primary Extension & Challenge) program is a supplementary program for Year 5 and 6 students identified as gifted and talented. It provides opportunities for these students to:

  • socially interact with other gifted and talented children
  • enjoy an intellectually rigorous and challenging program
  • interact with practising experts
  • develop higher order process skills and in-depth investigation skills
  • work on open-ended activities which encourage choice and negotiation
  • undergo self/peer evaluation and reflection of performance.

Our Mission

Extend & Challenge

Our mission is to uncover the true potential of our students, develop their gifts and talents, provide them with new ideas and inspiration, and support them to succeed and thrive with confidence.

Identification

PEAC is a part time supplementary program for students in Years 5 and 6. Students are identified as suited to participation in the PEAC Program through testing in Year 4.

All public school students in Year 4 are provided with the opportunity to be assessed for suitability for the PEAC program. Parents may request that their child be excluded from the testing process by notifying the school in writing.

The Gifted and Talented Selection Unit in Central Office is responsible for coordinating the state-wide test schedule, compiling and distributing test materials and distributing student results through Regional Offices.

Regional Assessment Coordinators manage and coordinate test material distribution, collation, record-keeping and the return of answer sheets for marking on behalf of schools.

The tests were developed by the Australian Council for Education Research (ACER). The marking, scoring and data management are handled by an external independent agency.

Test administration is conducted by school staff.

Regions are responsible for managing the pool of students identified as suitable to PEAC through the test process, with each selected student meeting defined criteria.

The PEAC selection test consists of two sections:

Verbal Reasoning (VR), comprised of 25 multiple-choice items and two item types: Reading Comprehension and Reasoning by Analogy.

Mathematical Reasoning (MR), comprised of 25 multiple-choice items of two item types: Mathematical Reasoning and Abstract Reasoning.

It is important to make fair and consistent interpretations of the data. There are three measures used in selecting students who are suited to PEAC participation:

  • The Total Percentile
  • The Verbal Reasoning VR Percentile
  • The Mathematical Reasoning MR Percentile
PEAC Handbook

The Wheatbelt Education Region stretches from Dalwallinu and Beacon in the north, east to Southern Cross and Newdegate, south to Katanning and Broomehill and west to Wundowie, Moora and Boddington.  Within this area the Region encompasses 42 primary schools, 19 district high schools, 4 senior high schools, 2 agricultural colleges and a K-12 College at Merredin.

The PEAC students in the region are split into major PEAC centres where students from particular regions would access their PEAC program. The PEAC centres are located within host schools. The teachers for each of these centres would be confirmed before the start of the program. We also have an online program for students who can’t access a PEAC centre due to distance or other challenges.